Since coming to power in 1 February 2021, the military State Administration Council (SAC) has continued to step up the issuance of CSCs to undocumented citizens, now named the Pan Khin Project25. They also are pursuing the plans for e-ID through broadly the same structures as under the NLD government. The e-ID System Working Committee (still with six sub-committees) held coordination meetings on 26 October 2021 and 22 March 2022. At the October 2021 meeting, the SAC representative stated that, in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), by 2030 every citizen should have official registration, including a birth certificate. It was also stated that the biometric and biographical data of each resident of Myanmar should be collected and linked to a unique number to enable the use of eGovernment applications across a single platform.26 These are aligned with the original objectives of the Committee established under the NLD government. The October Working Committee was presented with studies of other countries’ eID systems, including those in the region. It was recommended that biographic and biometric data (fingerprints, IRIS, facial photo) should be collected and stored in a database, and a unique ID number should be generated randomly. The conclusion of initial discussions appeared to be that the project should prioritise the issuance of ‘smart cards’ to those who already have CSCs i.e. those already qualified as a citizen under the 1982 Myanmar Citizenship Law. As a consequence, those who would potentially most benefit from having a digital ID i.e. those without documents and who may or may not qualify as citizens may continue to be excluded, unless steps are taken to facilitate their inclusion in the system. The March 2022 meeting27 reported that implementation of e-ID will be carried out in two phases: ‘UnitID’ collection and ‘National-ID’ implementation. ‘Unit-ID’ appears to refer to pilot roll-out in the 81 townships of Yangon, Mandalay and Nay Pyi Taw Regions. An advisory group comprising local experts would be formed and could recommend on hiring foreign experts; equipment purchases would be tendered; laws would be amended as necessary. It was stated that six items of biographic data and three types of biometric data (iris, fingerprints, facial) will be collected from all people over 10 years old. Although the summaries of the first two Working Committee suggest that they are seeking to learn from good practice elsewhere, it is unclear whether the Working Committee is incorporating good practice and intenational standards such as ID4D and the 2017 Principles on Identification for Sustainable Development into its approach. These are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Ensure universal access for individuals, free from discrimination. Remove barriers to access and use. Establish a trusted—unique, secure, and accurate—identity. Create a responsive and interoperable platform. Use open standards and prevent vendor and technology lock-in. Protect privacy and agency through system design. Plan for financial and operational sustainability. 25 Pan Khin Project: Union Minister Inspected Project Implementations , MITV, 4 July 2021 and Efforts being made to implement e-ID Population Registry, Global New Light of Myanmar, 20 August 2021 26 Summary (in Myanmar) of the October 2021 meeting, Ministry of Immigration and Population website. 27 Summary (in Myanmar) of the March 2022 meeting, Ministry of Immigration and Population website. 8